Most of the existing pricing models of variance derivative products assume continuous sampling of the realized variance processes, though actual contractual specifications compute the realized variance based on sampling at discrete times. We present a general analytic approach for pricing...

We consider the saddlepoint approximation methods for pricing derivatives whose payoffs depend on the discrete realized variance of the underlying price process of a risky asset. Most of the earlier pricing models of variance products and volatility derivatives use the quadratic variation...

We develop efficient fast Fourier transform algorithms for pricing and hedging discretely sampled variance products and volatility derivatives under additive processes (time-inhomogeneous L evy processes). Our numerical algorithms are non-trivial versions of the Fourier space time stepping...

Convexity correction arises when one computes the expected value of an interest rate index under a probability measure other than its own natural martingale measure. As a typical example, the natural martingale measure of the swap rate is the swap measure with annuity as the numeraire. However,...

This review article summarizes the applications of the forward shooting grid method to pricing of various types of strongly path dependent options. The forward shooting grid approach is characterized by augmenting an auxiliary state vector at each node in the usual lattice tree, which serves to...

This paper presents the willow tree algorithms for pricing variable annuities with Guaranteed Minimum Withdrawal Benefits (GMWB), where the underlying fund dynamics evolve under the Merton jump-diffusion process or constant-elasticity-of-variance (CEV) process. The GMWB rider gives the...

We consider pricing of various types of exotic discrete variance swaps, like the gamma swaps and corridor swaps, under the 3/2-stochastic volatility models with jumps. The class of stochastic volatility models (SVM) that use a constant-elasticity-of-variance (CEV) process for the instantaneous...

VIX futures and option are the most popular contracts traded in the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The bid-ask spreads of traded VIX derivatives remain to be wide, possibly due to lack of reliable pricing models. In this paper, we consider pricing VIX derivatives under the consistent model...

Exact simulation schemes under the Heston stochastic volatility model (e.g., Broadie-Kaya and Glasserman-Kim) suffer from computationally expensive Bessel function evaluations. We propose a new exact simulation scheme without the Bessel function, based on the observation that the conditional...

The Fourier transform methods provide the valuable and indispensable tools for option pricing under L´evy processes since the analytic representation of the haracteristic function of the underlying asset return is more readily available than that of the density function itself. When used...